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Daniel Eastwood is a former NRL Touch Judge, running the lines between 2008 and 2014. He officiated in the 2011 Grand Final and State of Origin series.
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“I'll be asking those two referees to not be officiating in Game 2,” declared New South Wales State of Origin coach Laurie Daley after…
When I was still a kid, yet old enough to stay up later than 8:30pm, I would sometimes flick through the free-to-air channels and…
If the National Rugby League wants to continue to describe itself as 'the greatest game of all', it had better take a look in…
A second-half blitz with four tries in the final 20 minutes saw the Canberra Raiders prevail over the Canterbury Bulldogs on Sunday. Yet it…
The boardroom situation at the Parramatta Eels has still not been resolved. After the damning interim NRL findings were released at the beginning of…
Reading of Darcy Lussick's mother's passing last week and his wonderful tribute to her reminded me of the time I had to deal with…
The rep weekend has come and gone, with only one more year to come around in its current format. And again, just like clockwork,…
Tuesday was the greatest day the recent history of the Eels. For the supporters of that club and all the people involved from the…
What a round of rugby league we just witnessed! The game came together from both sides of the Tasman to devote a weekend of…
Let's get it out there from the start – the golden point in the National Rugby League is far from golden. It's an exhibition…
I enjoyed seven years of my life as an NRL match official, with the start of the week to the end of the week…
The NRL's bunker looked decidedly shaky over Round 5. Yet the errors that referee's elite performance manager Tony Archer has admitted is not the…
When I was in year three at primary school, the class was given a map of Sydney Harbour. There were the usual Sydney icons…
For thirteen days in October 1962 the world was a dropped-ball away from nuclear war. United States President Barack Obama is in Cuba this…
For many years, Cronulla used a shark mascot named MC Hammerhead. His namesake's biggest hit 'You Can't Touch This' should be the NRL's theme…
Some of the NRL's regulations are shambolic. Nothing illustrated this in the first round of the NRL's 2016 season more than the disjointed and…
Autumn – the prince of seasons - heralds kick-off to the greatest game of all as rugby league gets underway for 2016. Summer is…
There is a rugby league revolution going on in North America right now – and it has nothing to do with Jarryd Hayne. Starting…
Dave Smith will leave rugby league next month. I won't miss him, I won't feel sorry for him, and I won't feel like he's…
The NRL grand final is the pinnacle of the season for the officials. State of Origin games, Test matches – they are all left…
Very good point Barry – and it’s still in there. You can download this year’s laws here http://www.playnrl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/ARL-Rules-book-2016.pdf
Sleight of hand from T-Rex arms reveals its rewards
Agree – except we then step into the murky world of having video referee adjudicating forward passes, which is going to cause more problems. We have toyed with the idea of having the Bunker jump in for ‘blatant’ forward passes, but then we have degrees of that as well.
Sleight of hand from T-Rex arms reveals its rewards
I taught him all he knew! Actually, that’s not true. But I do like to drop names like he did with Alexander Hermann to get myself into the best vaudeville houses in town.
Sleight of hand from T-Rex arms reveals its rewards
I think you guys are on to something! I only write articles here so smarter people than me can come up with solutions!
Sleight of hand from T-Rex arms reveals its rewards
It’s not but I’ll bet it will be next year. The current laws don’t explicitly cover this circumstance which is why I would have liked some flexibility.
Sleight of hand from T-Rex arms reveals its rewards
I’m sure something will be added to the laws for next season the same way the ‘Wall’ was added to them this year for field goal attempts. Like I said, they followed the process and got it right. I feel there should be some mechanism for bizarre occurrences that the laws don’t cover. The laws were never written with slow motion replays in mind.
Sleight of hand from T-Rex arms reveals its rewards
You’ve got it Ken. We all remember the Billy Harrigan-controlled flowing Origin games, but he spent years building that reputation. He created an atmosphere where teams knew he would penalise if necessary and players didn’t want to be the one to concede the penalty in a 2-1 total count. Refs are tested in the ruck every tackle these days. We need more early-match penalties and use of sin bin for repeated infringements if required.
Make Origin a showcase and ban the cretins
Brett’s public image was always a battle because it didn’t represent him the way he actually is, which is a friendly guy with plenty of time for everybody. He just couldn’t shake what people thought of him. His flag work has improved markedly – he actually looks like he wants to be there rather than barely using the flag for signals.
Make Origin a showcase and ban the cretins
Agree with your assessment of the Souths v GC game – most entertaining of the weekend.
Make Origin a showcase and ban the cretins
I’m trying to get the fans there one column at a time!
Bias in officiating in 2016? No way
Nobody seems to have a problem with Henry Perenara who played for Dragons, Sharks, Eels, Storm, Warriors – am I missing any?
Bias in officiating in 2016? No way
Nobody should put you in that position – what’s so important about a footy game that makes it ok to abuse someone?
Bias in officiating in 2016? No way
Baz you have to remember that there were two other guys in the bunker with him and if they strongly disagreed with Luke he would not have pressed the red button. So in some ways that is a circuit-breaker for anything totally out of order.
Bias in officiating in 2016? No way
You pose a complicated problem. It means a redistribution of talent based on geographical location so that we consolidate some and broaden others. A lot like the Census. We could do that if the clubs agree (which I’ve already been shouted down on here as a pipe dream)
With the board in disarray, are Parra's juniors a takeover target?
At the local club I am involved in I can see that a bit of attention, a shirt, and hat can go a long way to entrenching the brand.
With the board in disarray, are Parra's juniors a takeover target?
Thanks for the comment Si – my main criticism is of the Board of Directors who have not acknowledged a problem at that leadership level. I am a junior coach so I have a real interest in the District. My ideas are ‘out there’ and designed to drive debate. Good luck with your footy!
With the board in disarray, are Parra's juniors a takeover target?
Hi Simon, the most recent report I could find from the Leagues Club on junior league was $745000 spent in 2014 year. I couldn’t find any more detailed information about where that money went. I have no problem with the junior league and its employees.
With the board in disarray, are Parra's juniors a takeover target?
I’m glad you enjoyed it for what it is, Sleiman!
With the board in disarray, are Parra's juniors a takeover target?
I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to suggest that Councils would be open to receiving outside funding. \
As for my story on here, it’s designed to explore the possibilities. What you call inept, I freely described as ‘radical’ and ‘fantasy’ in the body of the article. I don’t think the Parramatta Junior Rugby League are going to worry too much about what I have written on here.
Don’t freak out too much, 3 Hats!
With the board in disarray, are Parra's juniors a takeover target?
This is not good news. I thought we’d woken up to AFL infiltration a decade ago. Seems not!
With the board in disarray, are Parra's juniors a takeover target?
There is a link in the article to his latest stoush with the RFL
With the board in disarray, are Parra's juniors a takeover target?
You got it Nathan – money talks. We would just need enough of it. Councils would love outside investment in their grounds.
With the board in disarray, are Parra's juniors a takeover target?
Fazed, I’m not kicking the supporters, I’m not kicking the players, I’m not kicking the volunteers and officials who work hard for the Eels brand from park footy through to the NRL. I have a lot of respect for the staff at the junior league which is why I was clear about mentioning them.
I’m kicking the Board and offering some outside-the-square ideas. Feel free to stop reading my column, there’s plenty of other opinion on this website to keep you happy.
With the board in disarray, are Parra's juniors a takeover target?
Thanks Steve, yes it would be very difficult to get them all to agree to something this radical. It’s why I stressed the anger at the Board would need to be greater than the sum of the individual desires of the junior clubs.
With the board in disarray, are Parra's juniors a takeover target?
I think I would have denied the try and summarised it as ‘ball thrown forward over the defender’s head – penalty’. I think that would have been the fair result but then I would have had to take the heat later on.
I can’t imagine permitting the try, but then I’d be only one of three in the Bunker.
Interesting that Tony Archer’s comments were “I can understand why” they awarded the try. That tells me that he is not completely sold on it either. You can read his comments here http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-14/tony-archer-controversial-canterbury-bulldogs-try-decision/7510348
Sleight of hand from T-Rex arms reveals its rewards